


baby do not cry

by NaomiLeyers



Category: Spartacus Series (TV)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-08-04
Packaged: 2019-03-18 15:14:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13684263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NaomiLeyers/pseuds/NaomiLeyers
Summary: five times they kiss under very unusual circumstances and once when it feels right





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> nothing belongs to me except plot

The first time Sibyl kisses him, they are in Morocco, it happens on an undercover mission and he is more surprised than anything else. 

There is a serial killer killing American newlyweds and they are similar to most of victims and they are all tired and not moving forward and that´s when Spartacus has that crazy idea that they should start going out every evening and pretend that they are married. Agron starts laughing. He would too if he wasn’t that horrified at the thought of getting this close to another innocent woman, not to mention that, while that terrible incident with Melitta is 5 years old, he still remembers the way her body was shaking under his hands while she was fighting for every breath and how warm and wrong felt her blood on his chest and he hasn´t worked undercover ever since. He doesn’t tell Spartacus to go fuck himself mostly because he likes to think he´s past the suicidal part of his life and refusing your boss´ orders isn’t the healthiest choice.

Sibyl is furiously blushing when she says she is willing to pretend a relationship. She is new and young and naïve, their new psychologist, who still doesn’t know what happened to her predecessor. 

He waits for her at the reception of their hotel. She is wearing simple black dress and high heels and Gannicus can´t help thinking she looks good. 

They spend the night talking and, while she is a psychologist and he has had his fair share of those, it is nice. She is smart and doesn’t mind listening and he really doesn’t mind that whoever the killer is, he doesn’t attack them.

His good feeling disappears exactly at 5 a.m. after they get a phone call from Spartacus. 

Another couple. Murdered. 

They arrive to the crime scene after he more or less steals a car (because seriously, why would you even work for the government if you cannot legally steal- borrow- expensive cars from time to time?) and when Sibyl sees the bodies, she goes very, very pale.

He doesn’t really think about it when he wraps his arms around her waist and turns her, so that she is looking at him not at the corpses and she returns him the hug, her face burying itself to his chest. 

“We´ll get whoever is doing this,” he whispers and at that she laughs a bit.

“Of course you will,” she answers, “I wouldn´t have joined this team if I hadn’t believed in you.”

He is about to tell her she is wrong, he is no hero, he couldn’t save Melitta and he definitely cannot save her, can he, but before he can start, Sibyl kisses him. It´s not deep and it only lasts for seconds, but it feels good and it´s been while since he last kissed someone and meant it. His grip on her waist tightens. 

“You are heroes,” she tells him seriously, “all of you. That includes you, Gannicus.”

They don’t talk about it. They get the murderer arrested with no other victims and they return back to the States and he desperately tries not to think about how right her lips felt against his own.


	2. Chapter 2

The first time he kisses Sibyl it´s on Oenomaus´ funeral and he is getting really tired of burying his friends. He has walked the coffin and he has had to stand through Quintus fucking Batiatus giving him condolences and he is in a dire need for a drink or twenty and that´s when Sybil comes to him.

She is wearing a black pantsuit and high-heels and she offers him a cup of coffee and he almost wants to cry.

“I´m sorry,” she tells him and then she shakes her head and lets out a sigh. “It is stupid. Saying ´I´m sorry´ when what I really mean is ´I share your loss´.”

“It is appreciated anyway,” he answers and she smiles a bit at that.

“I know you were close,” Sibyl says after a bit of silence and he doesn’t ask her to shut up only because it isn’t really her fault that his best friend was idiotic enough to jump in front of him as if his life was worth it. It really isn’t.

She must feel that he doesn’t care for any type of talking because she goes silent and they both remain silent for god knows how long. 

“It´s been a while,” he hears then and he can feel himself going pale. 

Quintilius Varus is wearing sensible black suit and he is smiling and Gannicus remembers everything about the guy; the way he´s been flirting with him from the beginning, the way he´s been flirting with Melitta, the moment he refused to give them enough information. The fact that he had the guts to come to Melitta´s funeral after he basically caused her death and tell him what a shame it is that they will never explore their attraction.

“Not long enough,” he answers and he feels his fingers gripping the cup harder.

Varus moves even closer and puts his hand on Gannicus´ shoulder.

“I’m really sorry. It’s a shame that all the young and beautiful ones have to leave us this soon.” 

“Yes,” Gannicus answers coldly, “it is really a shame. Now, if you´d excuse me-“

Varus lets his hand slide on Gannicus´ arm.

“Isn’t it too soon to leave? Besides, I´m sure you can find some time. Can I buy you a drink?”

“That won´t be necessary.”

“Nonsense. I insist.” Varus says and Gannicus is seriously contemplating whether he is going to accept or whether he will tell him to go fuck himself (team be fucked) but before he can decide which one, Sibyl, who has been watching them until now steps forward and puts herself between him and Varus, all 55 kilograms which doesn’t really change much but the sentiment is there and he appreciates it.

“I think you have been turned down once,” she tells Varus amiably, “more than once if we don’t count only today. And while he cannot tell you to go to hell because then you would most definitely pull some strings and fuck up everything for everyone in his team, I am not officially part of that team. And it means that you either leave now or I’m getting restraining order and informing the press about it.”

Varus looks like he wouldn’t mind making sure everyone in the room loses their job, but he only gives Sibyl an angry glare and he leaves, because apparently he doesn’t like the thought of press being involved and Gannicus turns to Sibyl but before he can say anything, she speaks first:

“Don’t you dare thanking me. He´s been a dick and no one deserves that, especially not on a day like this.”

He isn’t really thinking about it when he leans down and kisses her, slowly but surely and she presses closer to him and parts her lips.

He doesn’t know how long they stay like this and he only steps back when he really needs to breathe.

“I´m sorry, I-“

“Don’t. You are angry and sad and frustrated and I´m here and it doesn’t have to mean anything. I get it.”

She grabs his right hand a presses a soft kiss to the back of it and then she takes a step back.

“My deepest condolences,” she tells him and then she walks away and he leans back against the cold stone of the wall and thinks, for a moment, how wonderful it would be, if he could afford kissing her with a meaning.


	3. Chapter 3

The next time he kisses Sibyl it is in a hospital after Spartacus was shot and he is starting to think it is embarrassing. 

It all started as an ordinary case (or what passes for ordinary in their lives), four dead children at the borders with Mexico and them being summoned after the originally called police officers threw up after seeing the bodies. Sometimes, Gannicus wonders if there once comes a day he looks at a random body and won’t see Melitta there. Sometimes he also wonders if he is ever going to be able to leave his job no matter how much he sometimes hates it.

The case turned out to be a complete disappointment; Spartacus and Sibyl had the profile of their killer ready in less than 24 hours since their arrival (Saxa gave them a stern look and murmured something about breaking the record) and Gannicus might not be Spartacus’ biggest fan, but the guy is hell of a good at his job and Sybil is too and with a little help they had the suspect’s name within next 40 minutes. 

Unfortunately, what neither Spartacus nor Sibyl took into account was, that cocaine-addicted pedophiles who have nothing to lose aren’t exactly keen on going to prison and aren’t going to just let themselves get arrested. 

Gannicus somehow manages to throw himself at Spartacus and get him out of way in time which means that the bullet misses Spartacus’ heart and instead buries itself into his shoulder and Saxa and Agron both manage to take Cossutius down before he can try to kill anyone else but it still means that they need to drive to the nearest hospital and he hates hospitals. 

Which, according to his therapist isn’t that surprising; after all it was him who drove with Melitta in the ambulance, it was him who had to stand by and watch while life was escaping her and there was nothing anyone could do about it. It was Gannicus who spent six hours waiting in surgical waiting room while the doctors inside did their best to save Oenomaus and failing terribly, so yes, he does hate hospitals.

The doctor assures them that it’s nothing life-threatening and tells them to wait there. She is a fairly pretty redhead with curly hair and blue eyes, exactly the type of woman he would once try (and succeed) to seduce. He doesn’t, not anymore, not since Varus and not since Melitta.

Saxa buys him a cup of coffee, mostly because he clearly looks terribly and then she kisses him on the cheek and goes to make a phone call to her fiancée in New York. 

“He’ll be okay,” Sibyl says when she slips into the now empty chair on his left. 

He doesn’t tell her to go away; they have become somewhat close despite his attempts to keep her away from his and therefore safe and so he turns to her and says: “I know.”

She smiles at him, assuring. They both know that she is terrified and exhausted (she is pale to the point of looking slightly like a corpse and there are dark circles under her eyes) but she still does her best to comfort him and for some reason that is what breaks his heart. 

“How are you holding up?” he asks her and Sibyl sighs and takes a swallow from his cup that he offers her.

“I’ve never- ah. I’ve never had a partner injured in action. I don’t like it.” 

He smiles at her.

“Yeah, me neither,” he answers and somehow that’s what finally makes her cry. 

To his defense, he only rolls his eyes once at her before moving closer to her (and seriously, the hospital chairs are fucking uncomfortable) and gently- awkwardly- pulling her into a hug. She buries her faces into his chest and lets him wrap one of his arms around her waist and the other around her shoulder. 

“Shhh,” he says, “you said it yourself. He’ll be fine. He’s a tough bastard; he would have probably just spat the bullet out had Cossutius decided to aim at his head.”

At that she laughs a bit through tears and when she looks up at him, her eyes are wet but there is a smile at her face.

“Just promise me it won’t happen again,” she sniffs, “and promise me you won’t do something so stupid like throwing yourself in front of a bullet for your colleagues.”

He sighs at that.

“I can’t promise you that,” he tells her, “I can’t promise you either and you know that.”

There are still tears in her eyes but now there is steel too.

“I know. Because for some fucked-up reason” (she blushes when saying fucked-up and he finds it both amusing and heart-breaking at once) “you seem to believe that your life is less important than the lives of other people and-“ 

He interrupts her with a kiss.

It’s not right and it’s not honorable but it does effectively shut her up and she moves in his arms until she basically sits in his lap and she kisses him back. 

When they part, they are both breathing hard and they are both flustered. 

“I’m still angry,” she tells him then, “Spartacus will be too the moment he is out of the surgery and not on morphine.” 

“I know,” he answers and then she climbs off him and goes to sit next to a grinning Agron.

Gannicus throws an empty cup at him and closes his eyes and wishes, desperately, to be able to not fuck up everything that concerns her.


	4. Chapter 4

The fourth time, it’s Sibyl who kisses him, it’s on Agron’s and Nasir’s wedding and somehow it feels almost, almost right.

Saxa openly calls it the Nagron wedding which makes Gannicus laugh and Agron scowl but he isn’t suicidal enough to tell her to stop. It’s, generally speaking, a pretty good wedding- Saxa’s fiancée is a wedding planner and she is pretty good at it- with everything that one would expect (rice, doves, wedding cake, Spartacus officiating the wedding ceremony, looking for once really content when he says the obligatory ’you can kiss now’) and also something more; Mira might have gone a bit overboard and Gannicus silently rolls his eyes at rainbow balloons, rainbow cupcakes and at Mira wearing both PRIDE badge and PRIDE bracelet. 

“It suits them,” Spartacus tells him when he miraculously appears by his side; Gannicus makes a mental note to not forget to once give the man a collar with a bell.

“It does,” he agrees and accepts the offered glass of champagne.

“I’m still angry,” Spartacus tells him after a couple of minutes spent in comfortable silence, during which they watch the newlyweds dance and Naevia try to persuade Crixus to do the same, “but I would have done the same thing.”

This is surprisingly true, Gannicus thinks, because Spartacus might be the only other person in the team, who has literally no one outside of it and whose only family are the team members. 

“And the verdict is therefore-“ 

Spartacus laughs a bit.

“Believe me or not, I don’t suspend people for saving my life. Maybe I should. But I don’t.” Then he hesitates. “Sibyl told me about Varus; and I have read your report from that case in 2014.”

Gannicus grips the glass a bit stronger.

“Good for you,” he says coldly.

Spartacus moves closer to him, close enough that Gannicus has to remind himself that hitting him would cause more trouble than it’s worth. “I have a friend working for DEA. I checked with him and it seems Varus has this small tiny problem with oxycodone. They were waiting with arrest because he has plenty of friends and DEA wants to get them all, but yesterday he didn’t stop at the red light and after police stopped him, they found not only oxycodone but also heroine in his car. I know it is not as good as getting him for murder, but he won’t see the world for hell of a long time.”

“Gratitude,” Gannicus whispers and Spartacus smiles a bit, pats him on the back and walks to Mira, asking her for a dance.

Gannicus drops to the nearest chair and he can feel his fingers trembling and for once it is a good type of tremor. 

“Is everything alright?” Sibyl asks when she sits (falls) on the chair next to his.

He smiles at her and somehow the world seems to feel lighter and he doesn’t feel like a liar for smiling.

“Yes,” he answers.

“Can I ask you for a dance, then?” she asks and he sighs and lets her lead him to the dance floor and of course that is when the DJ starts playing Love will keep us alive and Sibyl winks at him, her pupils blown and he rolls his eyes and makes a mental note to tease Agron about this playlist for at least a month and then he swings her around.

She laughs and then she presses to him and it feels good, it feels really good and as love will keep us alive, let’s make the moment right plays, Sibyl lifts her face and kisses him, deep and yet sweet and he sighs and melts into the kiss.

“’t was nice,” she tells him when they part and he nods.

“It was,” he agrees, “but you are drunk and-“

“-and it is not right. I know.”

She smiles at him, stands on her tiptoes again and kisses him on the cheek.

“Thanks for the dance,” she tells him and she walks away and he spends the rest of the evening dancing with Saxa and Mira and a pretty wasted Donar and then he leaves with Saxa who drives him home because she is a lot better friend than anyone would ever give her a credit for and she knows and if he cries a little when she shows him the video from Varus’ arrest that she borrowed from the police station, nobody needs to know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the song Gannicus and Sibyl dance to is Love will keep us alive from Scorpions   
> DEA is Drug Enforcement Administration, federal agency dealing with drug smuggling and use (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_Enforcement_Administration#See_also)


	5. Chapter 5

The fifth time, Sibyl finds him sitting in front of Melitta’s and Oenomaus’ graves.

He does it quite often, these days, almost every day when they are in New York, ever since he and Saxa broke up in a fairly glorious way (he will never be not proud at her for breaking up with him because of Mira). Still, there aren’t many people who know he does that and there sure as hell aren’t many people who would come here because of him unless there is an especially bad case waiting for them, which means he can’t hide his surprise when Sibyl sits down on grass next to him.

“I’m sorry,” she tells him quietly. She is dressed casually, in flats, jeans and a blouse and she is beautiful.

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” he answers, just as quietly. 

“I have,” she reasons, “I am sorry for kissing you when I was drunk because it meant putting you into a very unfair situation. And I’m sorry, because I am insensitive enough to come here and apologize to you for being stupid in front of graves of your best friends.”

“You aren’t insensitive,” he answers and forgets to lower his voice which makes an older lady couple of graves from them glare at them and murmur something about “children these days”. “And you really have nothing to apologize for, you did nothing I wouldn’t have done myself several times,” he adds.

Sibyl doesn’t answer him. 

Instead, she leans closer to him and when she kisses him this time, it is slow enough that he could stop her, if he wanted to.

He doesn’t.

And it should feel wrong, he is fairly sure they are currently breaking at least three different laws, but it doesn’t matter, because right now, no one died or almost died and they are both sober and then Sibyl does something with her tongue and he stops thinking and just kisses her back.

When they break apart, they are both flushed and panting. 

“Go out with me,” she tells him then and he thinks he should say no, he is too old for her, too broken and too fucked-up and she shouldn’t have to deal with his PTSS or with his nightmares or with anything else, but before he can voice his thoughts, she continues.

“Spartacus let me read your file. I know everything, okay? I know about Melitta and I know about Marcia and I am not sure how you could fall in love with a hooker you worked undercover with, but fine and I know what happened with Varus. And I still want you. I know everything and I am sober and I am asking you out. And if you say no, because I am not your type or because you want us to be just friends, alright. But if you tell me no because you want to protect me, because you think you are not good enough for me, then save it and say yes.”

He smiles at her and it is a sad smile but there is hope too.

“That was quite a talk,” he says and it makes her blush.

“I might have practiced it while I was driving here. I might have thought it is a good idea to ask you close to them, too,” she admits.

“Yes,” he tells her then.

“What?”

“Yes, I will go out with you. Unless you didn’t mean it-“

“No!” she almost shouts. “I mean. I definitely meant it.”

When they leave the cemetery holding hands like teenagers, he can’t help thinking that maybe there is still hope for them after all.


	6. Chapter 6

Saxa has always hated weddings. Which is slightly sad, given that she is engaged to a wedding planner but, on the other hand, Saxa has also always liked living dangerously and not according to the rules.

Still, she makes a mental note to make sure Mira knows there are no fucking heart-shaped cupcakes or self-written promises at their wedding and there is no way she will wear similarly atrocious wedding dress like the one Sibyl is currently wearing. 

On the other hand, she thinks with disgust, Sibyl does look ridiculously happy wearing it, which is good. She is the one getting married today after all and Saxa isn't cynical enough to not wish her luck. Even though she looks like a wedding cake.

“You look happy,” she tells Gannicus when she walks closer to him, “it is disgusting. I need a spoon.”

“A spoon,” he repeats and damn, he even sounds elated.

“Of course. I need a spoon to take my eyes out; I can't look at you like this. My teeth are rotting and dentists are fucking expensive.”

Then she leans closer and kisses him on the cheek and fine, maybe she shouldn’t feel a small tiny bit victorious when there is an imprint of her shiny-red lips on his cheek but hey, it is not bad if Sibyl sees her husband still has other women around him, especially if said husband only has eyes for her.

“I am happy,” he admits to her quietly and fuck, he sounds surprised and Saxa really isn't ready (or drunk enough) for this. 

“That’s good,” she tells him, before they get to the ' I don’t deserve happiness’ part in which he and Spartacus seem to both try to win “'t would be a fucking waste if you were all mopey on your own wedding day. Besides, it looks like your wife is somewhat alone, isn't she?”

And she is right, Sibyl has got rid of Agron and she now she is standing alone close to the dance floor and Gannicus is staring at her as if she were the most beautiful person not only here but in the world and Saxa hasn’t seen him this content and at peace for actual years.

“Gannicus,” she says, “the bride is waiting for you.”

He nods, still looking somewhat dreamy.

“She is waiting for you,” she repeats, “so why the hell are you still here with me?”

At that he finally moves and Saxa smiles to herself as she watches the newlyweds walk to the dance floor and moving together just as Save the last dance for me starts playing. 

She is still smiling when Gannicus leans forward and kisses Sibyl, slow and deep and she presses impossibly closer to him and maybe Saxa should feel at least a bit jealous, but, well.

She was never the one to steal taken men and Gannicus was taken the moment he looked at Sibyl for the first time, whether he and Saxa were dating back then or not.

Besides, she has her own most beautiful woman in the world waiting for her.

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the song they dance to is Save the last dance for me by The Drifters


End file.
